me too, as an electronics engineering student, I did so much problems designing/figuring out all about amplifiers from discrete to micro that I started to hate it, now I am considering building my own as a side project after grad

I agree..the masses are being brainwashed by apple beeep and dr. Dre beeep stuff and the sorts.. Its about marketing..the companies know screaming products sell more and are more receptive because of how they look to the masses...a simple design like hifiman or some other brands without multi trillion marketing budgets wont ever be widely accepted as cool or good..as their brains are programmed to like, sorry to say it, ****ty sounding stuff for the money.. But hey..thats real life..am lucky am not one of those sheep..my amp is one (if not THE most) underestimated amp i ever came across..but my god..everyone who listens to it through my he500 smile like a child who gets his icecream... Okay i admit..all hate how my he500 and especially my 337 look (i love the simple vintage look!).. They say its like those old radios for old folks..but thats their programmed minds messin with them..saying plasticly or extreme colored products are accepted as good.. Am imaking any sense here?

What's wrong with Apple? If you know how to effectively use Apple products they will actually deliver. Just because someone uses an iPhone only to make calls and text or an iPad only to play Angry Birds doesn't make it overpriced or bad. Yes a lot of money goes into design and PR, but the general consumers almost always prefer their stuff to look good.

Beats is a different story though. But what Beats did is that they opened up a not-so-new market that no other big audio companies thought was possible. Beat's audio engineers may not be the most competent, but their marketing department sure put all those of Sennheiser, Logitech, Beyerdynamic, Sony, etc. to shame. And now with all those big names trying to get a share of Beats' profit cake, us audiophiles are open to many more options besides Beats for a stylish but still decent sounding, source-forgiving headphone on the go. I wouldn't be surprised if Hifiman comes up with an Apple-friendly headphone some day when they have enough capital to do so.

TL;DR For portable stuff, looks are arguably as important as functionality. And Apple makes good stuff, what annoy me are the sheep thay praise Apple to heaven and auto-bash anything non-Apple. Lots of them these days.

I like the photo of the tier thing. It's funny how they put a pair or senns almost at the top and a bunch of others at the bottom. At least they're not product whores that think all of some brand has to be good. Though I don't agree with their assessment, I do think that many of those bottom tier phones are a little over priced because of the name. My first headphones beyond Sony were Grado sr60, and I still have them. They were a nice stepping stone to bigger and better. I even started many people into the headfi world with those. I always enjoyed breaking them out of the box and giving people a listen. My buddy even got some sr80 from listening to mine, but the plastic swivel thingy broke and he had to send them back. Then he got the k701 and the Grado rs1 on the same day. He didn't like the k701 and sold them to me. Kinda guess it's all about your ears and where you started that determines what you like. However, whoever made that photo probably can't tell difference between the night and having their head up their ass.

To me, once you bypased the amp, Apple's product don't sound real bad, and they do provide with such a great user interface that make you forget about the "lower quality than one could expect DAC". Ok, I'm no head-Fier, but that's enough for me when on the go.

To me, once you bypased the amp, Apple's product don't sound real bad, and they do provide with such a great user interface that make you forget about the "lower quality than one could expect DAC". Ok, I'm no head-Fier, but that's enough for me when on the go.

They actually do have great DACs, and if your headphone's are efficient enough the amp is great as well(much lower output impedance compared to most PC mobos and soundcards).

What's wrong with Apple? If you know how to effectively use Apple products they will actually deliver. Just because someone uses an iPhone only to make calls and text or an iPad only to play Angry Birds doesn't make it overpriced or bad. Yes a lot of money goes into design and PR, but the general consumers almost always prefer their stuff to look good.

Beats is a different story though. But what Beats did is that they opened up a not-so-new market that no other big audio companies thought was possible. Beat's audio engineers may not be the most competent, but their marketing department sure put all those of Sennheiser, Logitech, Beyerdynamic, Sony, etc. to shame. And now with all those big names trying to get a share of Beats' profit cake, us audiophiles are open to many more options besides Beats for a stylish but still decent sounding, source-forgiving headphone on the go. I wouldn't be surprised if Hifiman comes up with an Apple-friendly headphone some day when they have enough capital to do so.

TL;DR For portable stuff, looks are arguably as important as functionality. And Apple makes good stuff, what annoy me are the sheep thay praise Apple to heaven and auto-bash anything non-Apple. Lots of them these days.

I think I'd rather have a windows phone, but I had to get a used iPhone because it does enough to get me by and was all that was available. So it kinda sucks that I have to settle with old goods, but if the market was flooded with windows phones I'd probably have got one of those. My phone needs constant updates and I can't get FB on it anymore without spending more money on new os. iPhones are awesome for people that upgrade every year, that's about all. I want to see apple make something like my 12 year old HP computer, which still goes on FB and does most everything I would need; even though it's now being used by my grandparents. Beats on the other hand aren't worth the landfill space they take up when they are trashed. It's a flooding of the market with throwaway stuff that's good for companies and bad for consumers. Apple and beats do it. Apple, though overpriced priced, isn't as crappy a buy than beats though.

I like the photo of the tier thing. It's funny how they put a pair or senns almost at the top and a bunch of others at the bottom. At least they're not product whores that think all of some brand has to be good. Though I don't agree with their assessment, I do think that many of those bottom tier phones are a little over priced because of the name. My first headphones beyond Sony were Grado sr60, and I still have them. They were a nice stepping stone to bigger and better. I even started many people into the headfi world with those. I always enjoyed breaking them out of the box and giving people a listen. My buddy even got some sr80 from listening to mine, but the plastic swivel thingy broke and he had to send them back. Then he got the k701 and the Grado rs1 on the same day. He didn't like the k701 and sold them to me. Kinda guess it's all about your ears and where you started that determines what you like. However, whoever made that photo probably can't tell difference between the night and having their head up their ass.

I really had fun reading this post.. Its raw and direct.. Well done james.